Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin was the decisive battle of World War II, taking place from 16 April to 2 May 1945 when the Soviet Red Army's 1st Belorussian Front, 2nd Belorussian Front, and 1st Ukrainian Front launched an offensive to capture Nazi Germany's capital of Berlin. 2,500,000 Soviet troops took part in the final assault, and they faced 766,750 German roops, including several Volkssturm volunteers, SS honor guards, Hitler Youth, and policemen. The battle was extremely bloody and was hard-fought, but the Soviets succeeded in taking Berlin by 2 May 1945.

The offensive began on 16 April 1945 when the Soviet troops pushed past the Seelow Heights and penetrated the second German defensive line on 17 April 1945. By 19 April, the Soviets had opened the Germans' Oder defensive line, and they breached the northeast perimeter of Berlin on 20 April 1945, Adolf Hitler's birthday. The Soviet heavy guns from the 3rd Shock Army opened fire on the city, and Georgy Zhukov's front besieged the city as Ivan Konev and his front drove north towards the Neisse River. Army Group Vistula and Army Group Center, the two battered German army groups, were separated by the Soviet attack, and the Soviet troops cut off Berlin from three sides by 22 April 1945, at which point Hitler had decided that the war was lost.

The Soviet armies encircled Berlin, and 464,000 troops, 12,700 artillery pieces, 21,000 rocket launchers, and 1,500 tanks drove into the city. The Soviets breached the S-bahn on 26 April, and the Germans were forced back as the city was devastated. On 26 April 1945, the Soviet artillery began shelling the German Chancellery building, and Hitler and other senior Nazi Party members fled to the Fuehrerbunker. The Red Army advanced to within a mile of the hideout on 28 April, and the Soviets launched an assault on the Reichstag building on 30 April. 5,000 SS troops, Hitler Youth, and Volkssturm militia defended the building to the death, and the Soviets raised a red banner over the building's entrance that afternoon. Hitler, his mistress Eva Braun, and a few high-ranking Nazis committed suicide rather than face capture by the Red Army. On 2 May 1945, General Helmuth Weidling ordered a general surrender as a chilling drizzle fell on Berlin, and the battle ended. 305,000 Soviets were dead, wounded, or missing, while 100,000 German civilians and soldiers had died; 480,000 Germans were taken as prisoners. On 8 May 1945, the German forces in Europe surrendered on the orders of Hitler's successor Karl Doenitz, ending World War II.